Queensland

For 200 long years, the Great Barrier Reef has concealed the answers to three maritime mysteries that are now on the verge of being solved.

Three shipwrecks, all believed to belong to vessels sunk in the early 1800s, have been discovered in Far North Queensland waters in the past four months.

Heritage experts are now excitedly working to determine the story behind each one.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority's Bruce Elliott said the three discoveries - two in remote Cape York waters and one off the coast of Gordonvale, south of Cairns - were exciting because they were largely intact.

"These three are all thought to be sailing vessels from the 1800s, all are fairly large and all are in relatively good condition," he said.

"We don't have any of the detail yet, heritage experts are trying to identify the ships, so we don't know at this stage if they were passenger ships or cargo ships."